Synopsis
Act I
At the theatre where the musical Me and Juliet is
playing, we meet the company's backstage characters - electricians
Sidney and Bob, the latter a bruiser, very full of himself and quite
nonchalant about standing up his girlfriend, chorus girl Jeanie (who
ruefully sings A Very Special Day and That's the Way It
Happens). Larry the Assistant Stage Manager is also sweet on
Jeanie, but acknowledges that Bob has 'beaten him to it' (a reprise
of That's the Way It Happens with a neatly-altered lyric);
Mac, the Stage Manager, is a shrewd type whose latest ruse to keep
the temperamental conductor Dario from quitting is to send him a
gardenia each night with a note from a mysterious lady admirer. Before
the curtain rises we also meet Lily and Charlie, the leads; Charlie
is of course grumbling about the orchestra - but he leaves it to
Mac to tell Dario!
During and after the Overture Dario sniffs his gardenia
passionately, peering round the audience for the unknown admirer. The
Prologue, sung by Me (Charlie) and Juliet (Lily) features her song Marriage
Type Love; on the light bridge, Sidney and Bob comment on the stage
action and Bob identifies himself with the Don Juan-type character
in the play (Keep It Gay).
The next scene is an audition; Charlie's protégée
Betty, who is in another show that is just closing, gets the part of
Carmen after reading and singing (reprise of Keep It Gay) -
much to Mac's annoyance, because he had been getting along fine with
her and cannot now break his rule 'never with a girl in your own company'.
He has also given this stern advice to Larry, who is there to coach
Jeanie as a replacement understudy for Juliet. First, he has to encourage
her to lose her fear of the audience (The Big Black Giant).
She blossoms, to sing No Other Love so intensely that it develops
into a duet, but the spell is broken when Bob enters, mocking her.
After she has left, completely unnerved, Larry is alone onstage for
a moment and is accosted by Bob who threatens him, in no uncertain
terms, to 'keep off.
In the autumn, the backstage gossip is how Jeanie
is seeing Larry and making sure Bob doesn't find out. Betty makes a
huge play for Mac and is delighted to find how jealous he still is
of her and Charlie. She is now sharing a dressing-room with Jeanie,
who has reverted to the chorus and is filling in as Betty's dresser
and they both delight in being stage-struck (It's Me!). After
Betty leaves to go onstage, Larry enters and we learn that he and Jeanie
have just got married - but how are they to tell Bob? They don't need
to - Sidney, on the light bridge with Bob during the big Act 1 finale,
blurts out too much; at the moment when Jeanie, as a flower girl, comes
offstage and passes Larry at the ASM desk and they kiss briefly, Bob
turns a spot on them and even after they break he follows her right
across the stage with it, and looses off a sandbag which almost hits
her, while onstage the finale ploughs desperately on and panic breaks
out offstage.
Act II
In the lobby, the interval audience comes out to comment on the
show (Inter-mission) after Ruby the Company Manager has hidden
Larry in the company office and Herbie the candy counter boy has
hidden Jeanie under a pile of lemonade cartons. Bob blunders around,
looking for them, then goes to drink in the bar opposite (It Feels
Good), to keep watch on the theatre exit.
Jeanie has joined Larry in the office. He is ashamed of being physically
scared of Bob, but this is unimportant to Jeanie (I'm Your Girl).
Bob breaks through the window, homicidal, carrying a wrench and desperate
to get Larry, but he knocks himself out on a radiator when they grapple.
When he recovers, Mac and Ruby tell him Jeanie and Larry have just
got married. Backstage after the final curtain, Larry, deputising for
Mac, orders a part reprise of No Other Love, which Jeanie sings
in place of the absent Lily; Bob appears and acknowledges defeat when
Larry, now in command, quietly tells him of the following morning's
rehearsal time, as Jeanie sings - for Larry alone - 'No Other Love
Have I'. |
Instrumentation:
Reed I (flute, piccolo, clarinet, baritone sax), Reed II (oboe,
cor anglais, clarinet, tenor sax), Reed III (clarinet, flute, alto
sax), Reed IV (flute, clarinet, bass clarinet), Reed V (clarinet,
bassoon, tenor and bass sax), horn, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, percussion,
piano, harp, strings
|
ME AND JULIET 